Chapter 231: Sweep Them All Away! (1)
Chapter 231: Sweep Them All Away! (1)
The fact that the Schneider Estate had been able to fight with such an overwhelming advantage during the second and third waves was over ninety percent thanks to the walls.
The first wave went without saying, but even the swarms of beast-type monsters in the second wave would have been a catastrophic disaster had they been faced in the open fields.
The reason they could endure and hold them back was the high, sturdily built walls. And those precious, magnificent walls were now…
Boom! Crash!
“Kwooooooar!”
“Kahaaaaaang!”
…being destroyed.
The giant-class monsters did not try to climb the walls.
Instead, they used their fists and massive, log-like clubs to smash and shatter them.
The soldiers standing atop the walls turned pale as the impacts vibrated through the very soles of their feet.
“What are you doing? Fire!”
“Aim for the head! Aim for the head and shoot!”
Of course, the soldiers on the walls did their best.
They busily loosed arrows to keep the giant-class monsters at bay. However…
“Grrrrrrr…”
Ordinary arrows could not pose a lethal threat to such massive creatures.
Unless an arrow luckily pierced an eye, the rest were nothing more than the sting of an insect bite. The only things that worked here were…
“Sylph!”
“O, Salamander!”
The arrows of the elves, which could increase in power and accuracy by imbuing them with spirits…
“A Fireball won’t be enough! Concentrate your power!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Fire Arrow!”
“Ice Spear!”
…and the spells of the mages.
Their attacks possessed enough power to kill even a Troll or an Ogre in a single strike.
Every time an explosion erupted beneath the walls of the Schneider Estate, the corpses of monsters piled up. But the problem was…
“Damn it, just how many are there?”
“Throw the rocks! I said throw them!”
There were more monsters clinging to the walls than there were monsters dying.
Furthermore, the beast-type monsters that had survived were still continuously scaling the walls.
It was a crisis incomparable to the second wave. And then…
— Mooooooo!
“Urgh… A Golden Minotaur?”
“Block it! Block that bastard!”
A Minotaur, a full head taller than the other giant-class monsters, charged forward on all fours, leading with its head.
Arrows rained down on it, and the mages’ spells exploded against it, but…
— Mooooo-aaaaargh!
K-boooooom!
Its horns finally slammed into the fortress gate.
The gate was made of sturdy wood reinforced with iron, but it could not withstand a charge from a Minotaur that exceeded the destructive power of a battering ram.
Ultimately, the gate collapsed.
The gate of the Schneider Estate was wide enough for giant-class monsters to enter comfortably.
The gate, built wide to allow many carriages to pass through simultaneously, had become a poison in this moment.
The moment the Golden Minotaur stepped inside…
“Warriors of the Red Rock Tribe! Attack!”
“Uwoooooooo!”
“Oooooooo!”
There were Orc warriors who charged forward even faster and more bravely.
Initially, they had been stationed atop the walls, but Viscount Schneider had told them:
[The Orcs’ combat potential cannot be fully utilized atop the walls. Please wait in front of the gate.]
Turanta had readily followed the Viscount’s words, and as a result, it had become a masterstroke.
“Attaaaaack!”
“Uwoooooo!”
“Take this!”
The Golden Minotaur, which had been hunched over to pass through the gate, was relentlessly pummeled by the sudden onslaught of Orcs.
Thud! Crash!
Each blow from the Orc warriors was powerful enough to dent steel.
Those attacks were making even the giant-class monster—one that had evolved to a higher level of strength—stagger backward.
“Wo… Wow…”
“Were those guys always that strong?”
“Weren’t they retired warriors?”
Those watching the scene were left speechless.
In truth, this was a misunderstanding.
It was true that the young warriors of the Red Rock Tribe had all followed Tutan.
Those remaining here were Orcs who had stepped back from the front lines, aged between fifty and sixty in human terms.
For a human, that would be an age long past their prime. But Orcs were different.
“Wooooooo!”
“Push them back!”
Orcs have an extremely short period of senescence.
If a human’s physical prime lasts about ten to twenty-five years, an Orc’s physical prime lasts at least fifty years.
While their actual lifespan isn’t much different from humans, as a race of warriors, their bodies do not weaken until they are on the verge of death.
They are a race that spends about eighty percent of their lives in their physical prime.
The ones here were not old Orcs facing retirement due to frailty.
Rather, they were the ultimate warriors who had accumulated decades of combat experience surviving the struggles of the Great Forest.
Shuck!
“Got you!”
— Mooooooo!
Finally, one of the Orc warriors achieved a feat.
Not missing the moment the Minotaur’s head lowered after being struck in the knee, he bravely lunged forward and drove a stone blade into the Golden Minotaur’s eye.
The Golden Minotaur groaned in pain and tried to swing its hand, but the other Orcs weren’t just watching.
“Drive them back!”
“Uwoooooooo!”
“Die!”
To cover their comrade who had struck a vital point, the other Orcs all swarmed in.
The Orc perched on the monster’s head pulled out his stone blade and forcefully stabbed it into the other eye.
Squeltch!
— Mooooooo!
The Golden Minotaur let out a pained scream and finally retreated.
The Orc warriors stood guarding the gate and shouted loudly.
“As long as we are here, no one shall pass through this gate!”
“Fight with peace of mind, humans!”
“Uwoooooooo!”
“Oooooooo!”
Seeing the Orc warriors roaring in victory, the humans smiled.
“Seriously, that ‘Uwoooo’ of theirs…”
“Still, they’re damn reliable right now, aren’t they?”
“You can say that again.”
In fact, one of the most frequent complaints in the Schneider Estate was: “Please make the Orcs stop saying ‘Uwoooo.’ It’s too loud.”
They said it when they were happy.
They said it when they were angry.
They just said it.
Normally, many humans complained about this.
But after today, it seemed those people would decrease significantly.
“Uwoooooooo!”
There were even humans starting to mimic them.
*
The Orcs’ activity didn’t stop at just guarding the gate.
They even ventured outside the gate to actively attack the giant-class monsters.
Of course, no matter how strong the Orcs were, a brawl against hundreds of giant-class monsters was dangerous.
However, they weren’t alone.
“Fire! Keep firing!”
“We must provide whatever cover we can for the Orc warriors!”
“We’re running low on arrows! Bring more!”
The soldiers busily loosed arrows from atop the walls.
Their arrows had little effect on the giant-class monsters, but it was a different story for the arrows used by the elves.
Their arrows, utilizing spirits, possessed enough power to blow apart the tough heads of the giant-class monsters. And…
“We’re going too!”
“Yes, sir!”
The power of the magic swordsmen, who flew freely through the sky, shone in this moment as well.
They were like bees stinging a bear.
They flew through the air at will, attacking the giant-class monsters.
“Do not back down! This is the turning point!”
“Protect our city!”
“Oooooooo!”
Everyone became one, desperately trying to overcome this crisis.
*
The third wave of the stampede was dangerous.
The gate was destroyed, and the walls were heavily cracked.
However, with the Orc warriors fighting bravely and the magic swordsmen and elven archers performing brilliantly, they managed to hold on somehow.
By the time the number of giant-class monsters had decreased to less than a third…
“My Lord, the fourth wave is coming.”
“I see… Is that so?”
Viscount Schneider bit his lip hard.
He had guessed that the third wave wouldn’t be the end. After all, the Alpha monster that had instigated the stampede had not yet appeared.
So, he hadn’t let his guard down. But on the other hand…
‘Can we hold out?’
It was dangerous. The gate was destroyed, the walls were on the verge of collapse, and crucially…
“Phew… Let them come.”
“Those damn bastards…”
“Damn it all…”
Contrary to the fighting spirit on their faces, Viscount Schneider frowned as he saw the soldiers’ trembling legs.
‘Everyone is exhausted.’
The regular soldiers had already spent all their stamina in the fierce battle and were in a state of collapse.
Even the magic swordsmen, famous for their efficiency in battle, seemed exhausted as they caught their breath and drank water atop the walls.
The mages, regardless of physical fatigue, had consumed a great deal of mana and mental strength and had entered meditation.
He didn’t know how long it would take, but he had to assume there would be no magical support until they recovered.
And the ones with the most damage were…
“Lord Turanta! Come inside the walls now!”
“We are still fine!”
Turanta replied with a thunderous voice, but Viscount Schneider bit his lip.
Turanta and the other Orc warriors were covered in red blood from head to toe, and only about half of them were still standing on their feet.
‘It’s dangerous. If the fourth wave hits now, the Orc warriors won’t last ten minutes.’
Viscount Schneider bit his lip hard.
“Sir Ace!”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Oliver, who had arrived upon receiving the Viscount’s command, answered with discipline.
“Lead the knights outside, cover the Orc warriors, and have them retreat.”
“Yes, I understand.”
An ordinary human might have left them.
They might not have cared whether the Orcs—who weren’t their own subjects, nor even of the same human race—lived or died.
Long ago, Orcs were objects of contempt and hatred for humans, to the point where they were classified as monsters rather than a race.
But to Viscount Schneider, the Orc warriors were neighbors who knew loyalty and were steadfast allies.
Abandoning such people first was something that could not happen under his watch.
That was why he was deploying the knights outside to bring them in.
‘The walls are crumbling, but they’re still a hundred times better than nothing.’
Viscount Schneider’s judgment was correct.
However, that also depended on the opponent.
“The fourth wave is com— Damn it!”
A curse escaped the scout’s mouth.
But no one could scold him.
That was because…
“Wyverns? Gargoyles?”
“Damn it… there’s an Earth Dragon too.”
The fourth wave included flying-type monsters.
If that was the case, what use were the walls?
It would be one thing if they could focus only on the sky, but giant-class monsters remained on the ground.
Moreover, the most troublesome part was the presence of the newly joined Earth Dragon.
Looking like a giant crocodile slowly crawling across the ground, that monster was of the dragon race, albeit at the lowest rank.
While it couldn't dare be compared to a true dragon, the massive Earth Dragon, with its heavy weight and total length exceeding thirty meters, was a national-disaster-level monster.
‘Is that thing the Alpha?’
Viscount Schneider guessed that the Earth Dragon was the Alpha monster. That was a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune.
First, it meant this fourth wave was the final wave of the stampede. And if that was the Alpha, they could force the other monsters to retreat by dealing with the Earth Dragon first.
In a stampede, the moment the Alpha monster is dealt with, the gathered monsters are bound to scatter.
So, if they prioritized the Earth Dragon with a concentrated attack, there was a small chance of victory.
“All troops…”
Thump!
It was then.
A heavy footstep that shook the earth cut off the Viscount’s words.
And something slowly revealed itself, destroying the lush jungle beyond the Great Forest at will.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
With every step it took closer, emerging slowly from beyond the horizon, it was…
“A… A Hydra?”
“Damn it…”
It was despair.